PingRoundTheWorld

Every once in a while I read such articles where a person almost died of a food allergy at a restaurant (not just in Thailand) - and they always make a big deal about how the restaurant is at fault - but this begs the question: if you are deathly allergic to anything why on earth would you trust your life in the hands of complete strangers? Sorry to blame the victim, but if I had such allergies I would never let anyone else cook for me unless I'm 100% sure I know what went in the dish. Even getting my girlfriend to stop putting things like garlic (it causes diarrhea) in dishes has been mostly unsuccessful, so trusting strangers is just nuts (pun intended)...

Just another way the government and media failed them completely - wave after wave of "the tourists are coming" to spark their hopes, while in reality the millions promised are nowhere to be seen. Sadly though this translates to a distorted market where landlords sit on empty condos expecting to be paid premium rent, while the few renters are unwilling to pay those rents. In my condo I rented a unit for 15k a few months back (and even that is severely overpriced) - now I see ads for same size units for 18-20k. The only real change in demand between now and then is that now there is much *less* demand due to Russian tourists gone. In my previous condo the situation is reversed - the unit I used to pay 15k for is now being offered for 7-8k - it took them a couple hard years to realize no one is renting, but now they're finally down to reality. The kicker though is that even though Bangkok condo rent is down 30-50% - condo prices have only gone slightly down (if at all) - yields are terrible if you want to invest (why would you?). Generally I would prefer stocks and real estate to gold because the former two are producing yields, gold doesn't, but in Thailand there's a ton of reasons why you shouldn't buy, especially right now. Unless some miracle happens, Thai real estate is due for at least a 50% correction IMHO. With rising interest rates and empty units, landlords will eventually be forced to come down to reality and sell.

Ohh <deleted>. Nobody cares about mango and sticky rice. Tourists want nightlife that goes on until morning and doesn't get shut down by the fun police at midnight. They want no face masks, no restrictions, and definitely no Thai Pass or insurance requirement. They're doing the best they can to make tourists' experience bad, and then wonder why they're not coming. I mean come on - it's not rocket science - nightlife has been shut down for over a year - Thailand is a really poor experience now compared to what it was pre-Covid. I think they're still under the illusion that people actually come for the beaches and temples - some do, but many many come for the nightlife and craziness that used to be Thailand - take that away and there's really no reason to come for many. Thailand's real "soft power" that brings tourists is not mango and sticky rice - it's women and nightlife.

How a gf acts totally depends on you. Treat her too good - she'll get bored, put no effort, cheat on you, eventually leave you. Give her some drama (cheat on her, don't come home a night or ten, etc) - she'll go out of her way to please you in every way. Funny enough this works exactly the same with working girls as it does with non-WG. They are all women after all. This thread kinda got off topic. Wish there were more actual recommendations for places outside Thailand a singe (or not) man could have some fun. On the cheaper end I can think of Phnom Penh, Angeles City, Subic Bay. Dubai has a ton of women of course but it's definitely not a budget option.

Rent isn't directly correlated to inflation in the short term. Over the long term yes, but in the short term rent is dictated by demand - you may want to charge more, but if the tenant has other, cheaper options then they'll just move. 2000 baht a month is 24000 baht additional on a yearly contract - that's enough to make a tenant move if they find something cheaper. Personally I would move on principle because a landlord that arbitrarily raises the prices like that for no real reason is a bad landlord and who knows what else they'll nickel and dime me for later on.

The only ones booking 1-day stays would be expats and others who have a permanent accommodation in Thailand already. Actual tourists would probably book at least a few days as it's a hassle to move around hotels, and they'll likely pick a hotel they're already happy with if most hotels are SHA+ (and they will have to be if they want to survive). I think this is a non-issue, but even if they were to get a large number of 1-night stays - that's still better than rooms sitting empty. And it could easily be accounted for by increasing nightly prices and giving discounts for longer stays. Also don't forget that those guests who book 1 night wouldn't even sleep in the room - they'll check out immediately after the negative result, allowing the hotel plenty of time to prepare the room for next day.

I was thinking just that - even if this isn't what actually happened - the fact that if he dies or goes to jail the wife would get the house and probably much more (any known savings/investments, life insurance if there is, etc) is alarming - to say the least. If on the other hand he didn't buy the house (only rented), didn't marry her, and all assets were kept out of Thailand - her motivation would be to keep him as safe as possible. But to sum it up, as you said - if she knows you're worth much more to her alive and well than.. uhh.. not.. chances are you'll remain that way.

Personally I'd move and lose all contact with him. I actually moved countries when I broke up with my bipolar schizophrenic ex-gf a few years back. Our first month together she was fine, but the next couple of months went downhill fast. After she started getting violent and attacked me a couple of times, threatened to throw herself off the balcony if I left her, and even pulled up a knife (which I quickly disarmed) I figured the only way to get out of this was to cut all contact - so I went on an overseas vacation and never came back (to her). And of course she also had a psycho criminal ex-bf who was stalking her and threatening me. I got out of the situation pretty quickly, but I'm sure had I stayed I would've ended up either badly hurt or in jail.

I think the crime started earlier than that - buying a house and marrying the type of woman who'd bang other men behind his back. She's obviously exactly the type of woman who'd ruin his life, one way or another.

Are security cams legal in Thailand? (I assume yes). In this case it would've made a world of difference in proving his innocence (or guilt). Sadly even if he is innocent - his chances of walking away from this are slim. In a normal country if a man walks into your property with a loaded gun it's pretty much self-defense by default, but TIT and he's a foreigner.

So basically the idea is to do nothing, and somehow magically a million digital nomads - who can work anywhere - will come to Thailand where they can't even have a drink (or work) legally. Yes, I'm sure that's going to happen. If they drop restrictions, open nightlife, and introduce easy-to-get remote work visas - maybe they'll get some numbers (but not a million). But that would require logic and action, so yeah nah won't happen.

There's one problem with your theory - it's completely wrong. Most hotels in the sandbox program aren't overpriced or expensive - on the contrary - you can book a jacuzzi room minutes walk distance to everything for 800 baht. 4 star hotels for under 1000 baht. If you really want to "splurge" then 5 star hotels are 2000-3000 baht. Nice article, but the big hotel owners aren't getting (more) rich - they're probably losing money just like everyone else. The real problem isn't big hotels - the real problem is government restrictions - and until those are largely gone there will not be any sort of major tourism. Drop the COE process, open up nightlife with no restrictions, lose the masks outdoors (it helps nothing except pretending you're doing something), and maybe - just maybe - you'll see some actual tourism and money flowing in. And I say this as someone who actually visited the 'box. It's time to open up everything.